Ok, this is a tough one to follow. As a diehard hardcore wrestling fan for about 20 years now (since I was 4-5 years old), and also speaking as a current pro wrestler myself, I tend to answer this question from a different point of view than a normal spectator. The simple reasoning for that is because when I was only a fan/spectator, I was watching to see my favorite good-guy wrestlers beat up my favorite bad-guy wrestlers and win belts. But now, I’m not doing that. What I do now is I watch great babyface workers run a program with great heel workers, as the promoters put titles on them.
What makes a wrestler great is not how perfect he performs his moves, or how mean he sounds when cutting a promo. What makes a worker great is how his opponent looks during any match. The job of a professional worker is to make his opponent look as absolutely excellent as possible. The only person I can think of who has done that in every match I've ever seen of his in the past 20 years is of course, Ric Flair. Granted, right now, I would say the best wrestler of this "new generation" of guys would be a tie between Chris Benoit, and Rob Van Dam. But of all time, I would have to sya Flair.
Some of the names that others brought up are definitely greats, but Flair always had "it". To the person who said The Rock, I can only say that the topic is "greatest wrestler of all time", not "who is your favorite wrestler right now". The Rock barely does more than 3-5 wrestling moves per match now. Basically all he does is a DDT, belly-to-belly suplex, Samoan Drop, an elbow drop, and a spinebuster. He punches too, but I wouldn't classify a punch as a "wrestling move". And his "People's Elbow" is horrible. It is simply an elbow drop, from the mat, not even from the top rope or from anywhere unique. No, just a simple elbow drop, from standing right on the canvas.
I, too, expected a debate on Stone Cold vs The Rock, neither of which are candidates for a "Best Wrestler of All Time" Award. But in reality, Flair could work the Gobbeldy Gooker and make him look like a million bucks.
-Joey Image